To Kill a Dream
by Quaystor
Summary: During The Rise of Darkrai, Darkrai was killed. How did he return, and what did his counterprat think about the events? LunarEclipseShipping


_LunarEclipseShipping is new for me, but I'll give it my best shot. It takes place during and shortly after The Rise of Darkrai. Here we go!_

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It was sunrise on Full Moon Island. In a shady grove between the trees, the legendary Cresselia was making her nest. After a hard night's work, she deserved her sleep. Resting her neck next to her body, she thought of all the sweet dreams she brought last night. Children who wanted to have the profession they want later in their lives, people who wanted to win the lottery, some who wanted to fly; all common dreams. Some dreamt other things: being with the one they love. Ranging from first crushes, elderly missing their deceased partners, men on business trips wanting to be back with their wives and everything in between, they all put a smile on Cresselia's face. She, too, had taken a liking in someone that went beyond friendship. Her counterpart, Darkrai, had begun spending more time with her lately. She knew that he liked her more than just as a friend, or colleague for that matter. He had grown a habit of visiting her island a few hours before sunset, and talk about nothing in particular, or just watching the sun disappear into the sea. She sometimes visited his island as well, but Darkrai once said that it wasn't nearly as beautiful as hers was.

"Darkrai…" she whispered, and a smile appeared on her face. Reaching out with her powers, she mentally flew to Darkrai's island, to see if he already was asleep. Searching the area, she was surprised that he was not on the island.

"_Running late, are we?"_ Cresselia's mind left the island, and went through the human lands in search of her counterpart. Johto, Kanto, Hoenn… nothing. When she reached Sinnoh, she felt an extremely powerful energy field around a city. To her horror, she saw the area covered by a time/space anomaly. Within the field itself, she saw three of her kin fighting each other. Dialga and Palkia were raining blows upon the other, while Darkrai was in between them, trying to prevent them from destroying the city, and reality itself in the area. Seeing how long he could keep fighting so long against two of the most powerful beings in the world, she couldn't help but to be impressed. Unfortunately, his powers began to wane, and the gods of space and time broke through his defenses. Darkrai screamed as his body dissolved under the sheer power of the attacks, and so did Cresselia.

"Darkrai!" in shock, she could hardly comprehend what had just happened. Darkrai, the manifestation of nightmares, her long-time counterpart and friend… had died. Tears began to form in her eyes.

"No… this can't be happening. You can't be gone." she began to tremble. "What about your duty? What about the things you have to do? What about _me_?" she began to sob. "Darkrai… don't leave me. Please…" a heart-breaking crying cut through the grove, coming from the nest of the mistress of dreams. She let her tears flow freely for her lost friend, not caring if anyone could hear her. After a time that could have been an eternity, her crying mellowed down to a sobbing, she slowly rocked back and forth with her head flat on the ground. She opened her eyes when she felt a hand on her back.

"Are you okay? I felt you were sad, so I came to see if everything's okay" a familiar voice said. When she looked up, her eyes met with a bright blue one, looking out from below a head of white hair. A moment passed, then…

"AAAAH!" Cresselia jumped up, and pulled away from the stranger. He backed up as well.

"Whoa! What's wrong with you, girl? You act like you've seen a ghost or something!" he paused a moment. "Wait, bad choice of words…"

"Darkrai! But how… how did you… I saw you die!" she uttered.

"I did." Darkrai acknowledged.

"Then how can you be here? I saw your body dissolve!" Cresselia shouted.

He shrugged. "I got better."

"This isn't a time for stupid jokes! How did you survive?!" she sneered.

"Cresselia, I didn't mean to hurt or scare you. It hurt a hell of a lot, so don't think I'll do that again that quickly." he apologized.

She thought for a moment, then zipped towards him, and buried her body in his arms. Surprised, he wrapped his arms around her and gently stroked her head. "I thought you were gone…" she sobbed.

"There, there." he whispered. "No need to cry, I'm not going to leave you."

She looked up to him. "How did you come back?"

Darkrai smiled at her. "I could sum it up in one word, but it wouldn't really explain what happened."

"Do it." Cresselia stared into his eye.

"Okay. What brought me back was…" he ran a hand past her cheek. "You".

She blinked with her eyes. "What do you mean?"

He grinned. "Exactly what I meant. I'll give you the long explanation instead." He looked over her shoulder at her nest. "Mind if I sit down to tell it?"

"Sure." Darkrai sat down on the nest, and pulled Cresselia close to him.

"I want to warn you though: what I'm going to tell you here is the very nature of our existence. It might be scary." he ran a hand down her neck.

"Not scarier than what I have seen…" she muttered.

He smiled. "You were spying on me? Never mind, it's easier to explain if you saw what happened." he paused, and recalled what happened. "After my body was destroyed, my spirit went to the place where all of the dead go. Turnback Cave."

"You went to Girantina?" she asked.

"Yes. Although he knew that Dialga and Palkia were fighting someone powerful, he still was surprised to see me. He told me that I was the first of the Legends to visit him dead, and that I could not rest in peace." he took a deep breath. "If I were to leave the world, there would be nobody to do my duties. There would have been a shift in the balance that we have created with our powers. So severe, that it would destroy the world."

"I wouldn't destroy the world if you were gone. What do you mean?" Cresselia asked.

"I know that." he continued. "We are the manifestations of dreams: good and bad. You give people hope: for a better future. I give people nightmares. Not to scare them, but to warn them that if they will not fight for the things they have or want, they will lose or never have them. You help people finding out what they want: I inspire them to go get what they want, by showing them what would happen if they didn't. If either of us disappeared, we would end up with a lot of trouble."

"If you were gone, people would fear going to sleep, because they have to face things they don't want to in their nightmares, without the possibility of good dreams. They would literally lose their dreams, causing them not to want anything with their lives. Society would fall apart in decades. If I were to disappear, their constant good dreams and hopes will make them think that they won't have to do anything for them. People would grow arrogant, lazy and ungrateful. They would also be unable to cope with the harshness of life, because they face it so little. The world would start to fear the fear itself, instead of the things that cause fear, which could be avoided."

"So, if either of us would disappear, the world would fall apart? That's a pretty scary thought." she said.

"It is, but I'm not done yet. As I said before, we are the manifestations of dreams and nightmares. We derive our existence from the hopes and fears of all sentient beings, from the most average of human to Arceus self. That includes our physical forms. Girantina told me that if our physical bodies were to be destroyed, we could just focus on all the dreams or nightmares of all living beings, and channel the power within them to form a new body." Darkrai explained.

Cresselia thought for a moment. "A new body? What happens to your old body?"

"My old body was destroyed, as you saw. In Turnback Cave, I created a new body for myself, so that I could continue my duties to the world. For all intends and purposes, my old body is dead. Although this body is its equal in every way, it is not my former body." he continued.

"Different, but the same…" she felt his arms around her own body, and her neck rested against his chest. She wondered if Darkrai's old body would feel the same way if it held her like that.

"In a sense," he ran a hand over the back of her head. "My death showed us our own greatest nightmare and dream. You know, the last thing going through my old brain before it was destroyed was... how you would survive without me."

She looked up in surprise. "Darkrai?"

"Cresselia, I…" he pulled her closer. "I want to be with you. Forever. As long as the world needs us, I want to be with you. Living without you would destroy the world, but it would break me first. Death has shown me how much I actually care for you. This might be a second heart, but it beats for you. I love you with all of it."

Cresselia didn't know what to say. She knew he loved her, and felt as if a dream had come true. "If we truly exist by the dreams and nightmares of others, we also exist because of our own. Even if we were the only two sentient beings in the universe, we would still live. And I want to. Darkrai, I want to spend the rest of eternity with you as well. I love you too."

Staring into her eyes, he laid down, pulling her with him. They laid next to each other, staring the other in the eyes. "Darkrai…" she whispered. "I don't want to be alone. Will you please sleep next to me?"

"Of course." he pulled her against his body, her head resting against his chest. "Sweet dreams, my love."

Cresselia smiled. "That won't be a problem, my dear. I'll give us the best dream ever."

"It already came true. We may not be the most powerful beings in the world, but we have a dream." he closed his eyes, hugged his counterpart, and smiled.

"Not even a god can kill a dream."

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_And done! The part in which Darkrai tells of his and Cresselia's nature might be a bit confusing, and I might have worded it a bit strange, but I did my best. Please leave a review, and check my other one-shots! Good day!_


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